Quote:
Originally Posted by davelavarra
Sorry, but how can we get rid of Horton after the monster season he's had?
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Horton plays SS. Landry should be playing SS. The only reason he's not is he had to move to FS to accomodate Doughty (last year) and Horton (this year). We deliberately brought in Schwiegert (or whatever the heck his name was) last year in hopes that Landry could move back to SS. However, it didnt work out and when the season began, Doughty and Landry were our best two safeties on our roster so Landry "stayed" at SS.
Then Doughty got hurt and Kareem Moore was not ready so Horton came in. The Plan all along was to move Springs to Safety at some point. Unfortunately, he was injured alot this year and when he was healthy, Smoot was playing horrible so Rogers and Springs were our best two corners... Springs wasnt able to move to safety until we acquired Hall and we had more corner depth. When we did, who was the first man off the field? Chris Horton. Horton is a poor mans Laron Landry and if we keep him as our starting SS, Landry is going to be wasted at FS.
Kareem Moore (a natural FS) showed much more promise in training camp last year than Horton, but was held back by injuries early on in the year. He made a few "rookie mistakes" this year, but he really started to come in to his own as the season neared its end.
Is Horton a really good player? YES. Is he one of the best draft picks this team has made in recent memory? YES. Those are all arguments for keeping him... but they are also arguments for trading him as his value high. He's a young, but somewhat proven player, and many teams would likely rather trade a 2nd round pick for a proven 1 year vet with tons of upside than take a chance on an unproven guy with that 2nd round pick in the draft.
In the end, what it comes down to (for me) is this - Is our team better with:
A: Rogers and Hall at CB with Horton at SS and Landry at FS
OR
B: Rogers and Hall at CB with Landry at SS (where he will be able to make more plays) and Springs (who is our best DB when healthy) at FS, while grooming Moore as his replacement... AND a 2nd round pick to upgrade our defensive line/LB corps?
In both cases, we've got a pretty darn good defensive backfield. But In my opinion, Option B is the way to go:
1. It puts our best 4 DBs on the field at the same time
2. It puts Landry, a former top 10 pick, in the position to do what we drafted him to do.
3. It allows us to trade a player at a position of depth in exchange for a draft pick that
SHOULD yield a starter for this team in 2009. (I say
should because it all depends on Vinny making a wise selection with the 2nd rounder. Its understandable that none of the 2nd rounders contributed this year. WRs usually dont produce much their rookie seasons. Next year, we should be addressing our lines and LB positon with our 1st day picks. Players at those positions make an easier transition to the pro-level, so hopefully a 2nd round pick would be starting for us next year.)